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Spank the Baby! – Part 2 Spank the Baby! – Part 4

Spank the Baby! – Part 3

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When He killed them, then they sought Him, and returned and searched diligently for God; and they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer [Psalm 78:34-35].

When a parent punishes his child for disobedience, it is meant as chastisement, not judgment and condemnation. It is meant to teach the child that what he has done is a no-no, and that he needs to desist doing it and ask for forgiveness. This is how families function.

It is quite otherwise with folks not a part of the same family. I never took the time to chastise the neighbors’ kids. It wasn’t my responsibility or my place. If things had become too difficult with any of the neighbors, it would have resulted in strife, not chastisement. It might even have led to a court case, but a spanking would never be on the agenda for differences between the neighbors and myself.

So it was (and is) with differences between the Lord and the peoples of the world. As God He is in charge of every person and every nation. He is like the government, not like everyone’s good friend. All persons must obey or else. As the Lord he is in covenantal relationship with His people. This is personal, like a spiritual family.

As the governmental authority God judges all men and sentences them to their just desserts. As the head of the family the Lord rears His kids to function righteously in His family, and He chastises us when we don’t.

Notice how the Psalmist portrays the Lord’s chastisement of the Israelites: “He killed them”! Huh? That doesn’t compute. God does that with the people of the world, the devil’s kids. He is supposed to chastise His own kids, not kill them. That sounds like a judge sentencing a criminal to death row, not a father disciplining his kids. What gives?

And a right fine query it is too. I’ll tell you what I find more curious than that. What follows is inexplicable. What did the Israelites do when the Lord killed them? We would think to read that they died. Right? Well, we don’t! We read,

Then they sought Him, and returned and searched diligently for God.

Strange doings for folks who have just been killed, wouldn’t you agree?

This curiosity affords us the context for understanding what is being taught, dear friends. It’s not just poetic license, as if to say the Lord didn’t really kill them. He indeed did literally kill them. Those He killed didn’t “seek Him”. The dead didn’t “return and search diligently for God”. But the survivors got the hint when they saw Father God kill the rebels, and they changed their ways pronto! They were the ones who returned and sought Him.

So the context has to do with the entire family of God, not merely with individual rebels in the family. Some of the kids rebelled and were used as examples of how not to behave in the family. Others saw the consequences of the wrong behaviors and learned better than to imitate the rebels. That is what the Lord did vis-à-vis the Israelites, as depicted by the Psalmist.

We will delve a little deeper into this concept in our next study. Now let’s spend some quiet time with Jesus.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86